BAIC Foton and ZF Strategic Partnership Bears New Fruit: First AxTrax 2 Electric Drive Axle Rolls Off the Line in Jiaxing

On June 22, the strategic partnership between BAIC Foton and ZF delivered another milestone — the first AxTrax 2 electric drive axle rolled off the production line at the two companies' joint venture plant in Jiaxing, marking a decisive step for BAIC Foton in securing a key voice in the core components of new energy commercial vehicles and completing the critical leap from strategic positioning to on-the-ground execution.

Zhang Lan, Secretary of the Party Working Committee and Director of the Management Committee of Jiaxing Economic & Technological Development Zone; Chang Rui, Deputy Party Secretary and General Manager of BAIC Group and Chairman of BAIC Foton; Lu Zhenghua, Party Committee Secretary and General Manager of BAIC Foton; Cui Shipeng, Deputy General Manager of BAIC Foton and Chairman of ZF-Foton; and Andreas Moser, Member of the Board of Management of ZF Friedrichshafen AG and Head of the Commercial Vehicle Solutions and Industrial Technology divisions, joined several hundred guests from government, both shareholder sides, partners and the media to witness this landmark moment.

01 | Riding the Wave of Industry Transformation, Strategic Positioning Bears Fruit

The automotive industry is today experiencing changes unseen in a century, as the waves of electrification and intelligence sweep the globe. During the 15th Five-Year Plan period, China's domestic commercial vehicle market is expected to stabilize at around 3.2 million units, with new energy penetration forecast to reach 50% by 2030 and L2+ intelligent driving adoption in commercial vehicles to reach 30%. At the same time, geopolitical rivalry is reshaping the global energy supply chain, and energy autonomy has been elevated to a strategic core for nations, compelling the commercial vehicle industry to accelerate its shift from fuel-driven to electrically driven powertrains.

It was precisely out of a profound insight into these industry trends that BAIC Foton and ZF signed a strategic agreement in April 2023, introducing ZF's latest electric drive technology into China for the first time and locating its production in Jiaxing. After three years of meticulous construction and preparation, the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle has officially rolled off the line at the joint venture plant, turning that strategic blueprint into reality.

As ZF's integrated electric drive axle platform developed for next-generation commercial vehicles, AxTrax 2 can be applied to medium- and heavy-duty trucks. Its modular architecture replaces the engine, transmission, propeller shaft, differential and conventional axle, thereby achieving the electrification of commercial vehicles. The unit that rolled off the line this time is equipped with a silicon carbide inverter on a platform of up to 930 V, delivering 210 kW of continuous output power and 26,000 N·m of peak torque, paired with a three-speed transmission and an electronic shift actuator. While its compact design frees up the maximum possible space for battery packaging, it also achieves full synchronization with the vehicle's braking, ADAS and autonomous driving systems, offering an efficient and intelligent system-level solution for the electrification transition of commercial vehicles.

02 | The Jiaxing Base Keeps Empowering, JV Cooperation Reaches a New Level

Since BAIC Foton and ZF established their joint venture in Jiaxing in 2017, the cooperation between the two sides has deepened continuously. To date, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant has recorded cumulative sales of RMB 20 billion. With its advanced production systems and intelligent equipment, the Jiaxing base is becoming a key manufacturing, R&D and functional headquarters site for ZF in the Asia-Pacific region. The official roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle is a critical step in extending the partnership from conventional transmissions into the electric drive domain.

In his address, Lu Zhenghua expressed heartfelt gratitude to the Jiaxing Municipal Party Committee, the municipal government, the Economic & Technological Development Zone and relevant departments for their long-standing care and support for the development of the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant, and paid high tribute to the project team and all employees who worked day and night to overcome formidable difficulties. He noted that the roll-off of the new product is only the first step of a long march, and put forward three expectations for the joint venture's future:

First, sustain technology leadership by fully leveraging ZF's global technology strengths and BAIC Foton's advantages in complete vehicles and operating scenarios, and accelerate the efficient conversion of the electric drive axle from technology reserves into commercially delivered products;

Second, deepen customer value by keeping a close eye on core scenarios such as trunk-line logistics and regional transportation, and accelerate the value conversion from "delivery off the line" to "profitability for the customer";

Third, advance localization, cost reduction and efficiency gains by relying on the resilience and scale advantages of China's domestic industrial chain to accelerate component localization, so that electric drive axles of global quality benefit customers with even better cost performance, helping new energy commercial vehicles move faster from "policy-driven" to "market-driven" growth.

03 | Anchored on the 15th Five-Year Plan, Driving the Green Transition of Commercial Vehicles

Standing at the pivotal starting point of the first year of the 15th Five-Year Plan, the mass-production roll-off of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle is yet another important achievement of BAIC Foton's three major strategies of "full-scale internationalization, full-scale electrification and full-scale intelligentization." Facing industry trends in which electrification and intelligence are deeply converging and the global landscape is being restructured, BAIC Foton is using key technologies as its lever to build a vertically integrated synergy advantage across core components such as batteries, electric drive systems and electronic control.

The official launch of production of the AxTrax 2 electric drive axle not only provides strong technical support for BAIC Foton's new energy commercial vehicles, but also sets a benchmark for the localization of electric drive technology in China's commercial vehicle industry. Looking ahead, the BAIC Foton–ZF transmission joint venture plant will continue to drive a cost revolution through technological innovation and unlock efficiency through lean management, pushing new energy commercial vehicles to accelerate into a new, market-driven stage.